India to face Germans & Dutch at Olympics
By Tushar Bhaduri in New Delhi
THE recent improvement in the performance of the Indian men’s hockey team will have to be carried forward by a fair few notches if they are to make a mark at the Olympics, as they find themselves in a tough pool for the London Games.
Michael Nobbs’s side has been clubbed with defending champions Germany, the Netherlands, Korea, New Zealand and Belgium in Group B. Group A will have top- ranked Australia, Pakistan, Spain, hosts Great Britain, Argentina and the winners of the last qualifier at Kakamigahara, Japan from next Monday. The hosts along with South Africa, China, Austria, the Czech Republic and Brazil will compete for the last spot.
The Olympic groups are determined by the teams’ position in the International Hockey Federation’s world rankings.
India have their task cut out, but chief coach Nobbs believes both groups are equally strong.
Germany and the Netherlands are ranked second and third respectively. Korea are placed sixth, one place above New Zealand.
Four of the other five teams in Group B are ranked above India ( 10th), but even Belgium, who are placed a notch below Nobbs’s team, beat them in the final of the Champions Challenge I in Johannesburg in December.
“ Both groups are hard, as one would expect at the Olympics.
No team will be easy to beat. We will sit down in a day or two for a thorough analysis of the teams in our group,” Nobbs told M AIL T ODAY from Bangalore, where 48 probables are training at the SAI centre.
He believed that there was a gulf in standards between the top four teams and the rest.
“ Australia are the strong favourites, in my opinion. Everyone else will be playing for second and third place.
“ The Aussies, along with Germany, Holland and Great Britain are the strongest sides in the tournament. There could be upsets among the other teams,” Nobbs said.
New Zealand are a steadily improving side and thrashed India 7- 1 during last year’s Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, before the Australian had taken over as India coach.
“ The New Zealanders are big and strong. We won’t have an easy match against them,” Nobbs said.
Korea have always been a threat at the international level with their pace and counterattacking ability.
“ They are a good side and tough to play against, though we defeated them pretty easily at the Asian Champions Trophy,” the Aussie said referring to the 5- 2 win at Ordos, China, in September.
However, Nobbs said the team will be looking forward the most to the clash against Belgium, which would give them an opportunity to avenge their Champions Challenge defeat.
“ I would love to get a win against them as would the players.” India will not play any of the sides in their pool in the buildup to the Olympics, and the coach said there were advantages of such an approach.
“ We will be playing Australia, Great Britain and Spain before the Olympics. Playing too much against the sides we will face at the Olympics will result in loss of the surprise element. We have a new playing style these days and other teams have no idea about us.” The coach is under no illusion about the task at hand.
“ We have improved a lot in a short time, but need to be consistent to beat the top sides regularly.
Only time will tell whether our improvement is quick enough,” the Australian signed off.